About Ken Bates Criminal Lawyer and Traffic Lawyer in Perth WA

Experience Biography

Ken Bates is a senior practitioner in the field of Criminal Law where he has had over 35 years’ experience representing clients in the Perth Magistrates Court, Perth District Court, Perth Supreme Court and Children’s Court of Western Australia and the High Court of Australia.

Ken Bates graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland in 1979 and was subsequently admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and after moving to Western Australia, the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

Ken Bates worked as a prosecutor for both the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Director of Public Prosecutions for the State of Western Australia for over 20 years reaching the position of Director of Legal Services.

He has had extensive experience conducting appeals in the Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia and as a Trial Advocate in all Criminal Courts in Western Australia.

For the last 7 years he has been the Principal Director of Bates Legal Pty Ltd, a boutique Criminal Defence firm practising exclusively in Criminal law and Traffic law.

Ken Bates is a member of the Indictable Criminal Lawyers Panel for Legal Aid. He has been a long-standing member of the Law Society of Western Australia, previously serving as a member of the Council of the Society. He is also a member of the Criminal Lawyers Association and has previously served on the Committee of the Criminal Lawyers Association as its Vice President.

In 2015 Ken Bates was in the recommended category of Doyle’s List of Leading Perth Criminal Defence Lawyers. His firm was also in the recommended category of Doyle’s List of Leading Criminal Firms in 2015.

A few things our satisfied clients have said about our legal services

Appreciate your professional conduct and hard work to realise the outcome.

Thank you Ken so much for your assistance. You have taken the pressure off [name deleted] over this time.

Thanks for all your help over the last few months, it is a relief to have a resolution after all this time. Again, thanks for your effort on this.

Thanks Ken. This has also been very confronting for me and [wife] to understand where [son] was and the issues he was dealing with.

Thank you so much for the excellent work that you have done for me. Your professionalism is second to none.

Ken, I had a call from [mother] – This family is very, very, very highly spoken of your professionalism – I also commend your undoubted professional skills and knowledge in achieving the outcome reported and I shall have absolutely no hesitation in directing any future referrals as may arise your way. For [son] and his mother I thank you so very much.

Ken, thank you for dealing with that issue for me and also the outcome. Again, thank you.

Thank you for your help with my matter. My highest regards.

Good evening Mr Bates. I am very impressed and I wish to thank you for taking on my case.

Sorry I haven’t spoken with you since the trial but just wanted to say thank you and you did a fantastic job. It takes me a while to trust someone but you had my trust all day.

I would like to thank you again for the efforts you made for me in this case. I am extremely happy and relieved with the outcome. Many thanks and the best of luck.

Thank you very much for your professional services.

I will take this time to thank you for your service. I really believe in having access to you after hours had helped me get through this ordeal and able to focus after you explained any situation. For this I thank you.